Interzone

New Science Fiction & Fantasy INTERZONE ISSUE 279 OUT NOW!

ALL IS FLUX, NOTHING STAYS STILL

18th Jan, 2013

One of the pleasures of working on Interzone and Black Static is the way some issues develop a personality that comes as a surprise even to those of us who have read all the stories in advance. And we have to admit the occasional twinge of pride when we consider the variety of themes, subgenres, settings, tropes, techniques, symbols, storytelling styles and voices we’ve been able to include.

For example, Interzone #242 included ‘Strigoi’, Lavie Tidhar’s tale of interracial alienation in the spaceways, and ‘Needlepoint’, Priya Sharma’s subtle but edgy story set in an alternative Albion. Both tales are admirably idiosyncratic: one has clearly identifiable science fictional elements, while the other skitters along in the debatable lands between fantasy and history.

But what about the frustrations and failures? A major source of disappointment is however eclectic the taste of the editors and however determined we are to be flexible, it’s inevitable we are going to reject some elegantly structured, linguistically complex and strikingly imaginative stories simply because they have no valid and defensible fit with the genres of sf, fantasy, horror or crime. In other words, all too often the team at TTA Towers experience the pain of rejecting engaging and powerful stories because we can’t find a home for them in Interzone, Black Static or Crimewave. And the pain is heightened by our awareness that this kind of work is increasingly unlikely to find a place in a publication that will do it justice.

Three exciting submissions we’ve found it impossible to place in a TTA publication – stories by Tim Lees, Nina Allan and Tyler Keevil – have inspired us to create Flux, an occasional supplement containing such stories, that we’ll send out free to subscribers of Interzone and Black Static.

As Heraclitus of Ephesus said: “All is flux, nothing stays still”. TTA Press is heading for a state of Flux – and we’re hoping you’ll feel a damn good Flux is just what you need.

FLUX: a flood of great stories that burst the banks of Interzone and Black Static

FLUX: a messy enterprise, a chaotic new venture, a vital but occasional publication

FLUX: coming soon, and going out free to subscribers of Interzone and Black Static